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Configuring your custom domain

Before you can connect your own domain to your Tictail shop you need to configure it at your domain registrar. If you don’t already own a domain, you can buy a pre-configured domain and skip this step entirely.

Depending on the type of domain you want to connect you need to configure them a bit differently:

1. If you want to connect a subdomain(e.g. shop.myshop.com or www.myshop.com) to your Tictail shop, you need to set up a CNAME Record at your domain registrar. Set your CNAME Record to: domains.tictail.com.(note the final dot).

2. If you want to connect a domain without a subdomain(e.g. myshop.com), you need to set up an A Record at your domain registrar. Set your A Record to: 46.137.181.142

3. Done! Follow the steps below for instructions on how to connect your domain to your Tictail shop.

Tip! Instead of following the general instructions above, you can also visit your domain provider's specific guide to find more detailed instructions. Here is a list of popular third-party domain providers and their help pages:

Connecting your custom domain

4. Depending on if you’ve configured your domain correctly, you might see a message like the one below. If you have followed the steps in Configuring your custom domain and are still seeing the below message, wait a few hours and try adding the domain again. Sometimes it takes a few hours for newly configured domains to be setup.

5. If your domain has been configured correctly it will show up in your list of domains.

Buying a pre-configured domain

If you don’t yet own a domain you can buy a pre-configured domain through our domain partner iwantmyname.com. Here’s how you do it:

2. Click Purchase a preconfigured custom domain, and you will be sent to our domain partner iwantmyname.

3. Search for your desired domain name.

4. You will now see a list of available domain names. Once you find one that suites your shop, click on it, and proceed to checkout.

5. After you’ve completed the checkout process it’s time to set up your new domain. Follow the steps in Connecting your custom domain for instructions on how to connect your new domain to your Tictail shop.

Iframes

Tictail doesn't allow iframing of your Tictail custom shop. Some DNS domain registrars might allow or even recommend you to setup an iframe, and point that to your Tictail shop. This is not the same as connecting a custom domain directly to your shop, and has negative user experience, performance and security implications for you and your customers–which is why we do not allow nor recommend it.

Glossary

A Record

A DNS record that points a domain (myshop.com) directly to an IP(1.2.3.4). When configuring a domain without a subdomain(e.g. myshop.com) you’ll need to create an A Record at your domain registrar.

Apex domain

A domain that’s not a subdomain, like myshop.com or myshop.co.uk.

CNAME Record

A DNS record alias for another domain. When configuring a subdomain to be used on Tictail(e.g. www.myshop.com or shop.myshop.com) you’ll create a CNAME record at your domain registrar.

DNS

The global system that takes a domain (such as google.com or myshop.com) and turns it into an IP address(like 1.2.3.4). A browser takes a domain, queries DNS servers to get the IP address, and then connects to the IP address to fetch the page.

Domain registrar

A company that handles the registration of domain names (e.g. myshop.com). If you’ve bought a domain from a domain registrar other than one of Tictail’s domain partners, then you need to go to your domain registrar to configure your domain before connecting it to your Tictail shop.

HTTP

HTTP is the protocol that web browsers use to connect to web sites. HTTP is by default unencrypted, but a security layer can be added, transforming HTTP into HTTPS. There are two versions of HTTP in use: v1.1 and v2 (sometimes called HTTP/2). v2 comes with many performance improvements, but not all browser support it. All Tictail pages served over HTTPS are available over both HTTP v1.1 and HTTP v2.

HTTPS

HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) is an added encryption and authentication layer on top of the standard web protocol, HTTP. HTTPS ensures that data sent to and from your site is encrypted and secure. It also tells browsers and users to trust that they’ve arrived at the correct website. You can see the HTTPS status for any of your connected domains in the Custom Domain view. Your domain can have any of the following HTTPS statuses:

Secure –We’ve generated a HTTPS certificate for the domain, and HTTPS is enabled. You can now toggle to redirect all your custom shop traffic to go through HTTPS.

Pending –We’re processing your domain, generating a certificate for it. This usually takes ~20 minutes, but can take up to 1 hour.